Bad breath accusation led to crutch attack outside shop

A woman used her crutch to strike another female who had accused her of having bad breath in an Inverkeithing shop.

Corrie Johnston repeatedly struck Anne Wilson outside the shop in Fraser Avenue.

The victim appeared in court wearing a metal apparatus on her arm and claimed the attack had worsened a previous injury.

After trial at Dunfermline Sheriff Court, Johnston, 25, of Fraser Avenue, Inverkeithing, was found guilty of assaulting Ms Wilson by repeatedly striking her with a crutch on the head and body.

She had admitted a separate charge that on October 28 at Wemyss Street, Rosyth, she behaved in a threatening or abusive manner by shouting, swearing and making threats of violence towards police officers.

Ms Wilson told the court she had regarded Johnston as a friend prior to this incident.

She said Johnston was already in the local store when she went there at 7.55pm on the day of the incident.

“She came towards me in close face contact. I asked her to take her face away as her breath smelled.

“When I went outside I was attacked from the back with a crutch. I got hit over the head and was knocked to the ground.

“Then I was battered with the crutch numerous times.”

Ms Wilson said she suffered a five inch cut to her head and later required surgery to her arm.

Johnston told the court that she had been acting in self-defence, claiming she had been “punched in the mouth” by Ms Wilson as she left the shop.

Sheriff Charles MacNair found Johnston guilty and called for reports ahead of sentencing on October 23.